Cubs
by Cumatilis16
Summary: Remember when Alex asked Gia if she would be his mate? Remember when she said yes? Well... They end up with a cub and twins. And they both realize what a pain kids can truly be. Especially when Alex realizes Clementine, his 12 year old daughter, has a little unexplained secret.
1. The Coming of the Cubs

It's been a few years since Gia's been kidnapped, and she and Alex have been busy...

"C'mon, Gia! C'mon!" Alex gripped Gia's paw as Gia yelled. Finally Gia opened her eyes in relief. Melman held up a crying girl with a lions body, but spots. Gia reached for the infant and held her in her arms. "Now comes the hardest part." Gia panted. Alex's ears lowered slightly. "What?" Gia chuckled. "What we're gonna name her." Alex smiled too as he touched the tiny kitten's head. "Can you get me another one of those tiny oranges, Alex?" Gia asked. "You mean a Clementine?" Alex corrected as he went to get the fruit. Gia had been eating fruits more for the cub. "Clementine... Hmmm" Gia thought. "What do you think sweetie?" She asked as she nursed her. The cub made a little noise. Gia giggled.

Alex came back with a Clementine in his hand. "Here, G." He gave her the fruit. As Gia peeled it, she asked Alex, "What do you think about Clementine?" Alex looked at the ceiling. That means he's thinking. "Well, I've never had them before, and you know I'm not a fan of fruit..." He said. Gia laughed. "No, kitty!" She nudged him playfully. She sometimes called him kitty. "I mean a name!" Alex tilted his head. "Wait, wait, wait, you want to name her Clementine?" He asked. Gia nodded. Alex thought for a bit, then smiled. "Yeah...yeah ok. But if we have another cub, I'm naming him. Or her." He said. Gia giggled.

**5 Years Later...**

"Alright, Clem, where'd you go now?" Alex checked under the bed, in the closet, and his sneaky daughter was no where to be seen. That's when he heard a thump from on top of the train cart. He shook his head and walked outside. "Man, I can't seem to find her anywhere!" Alex acted. "Ok, Clem! You got me!" He yelled. Silence. That's when Alex grabbed a jumping cub right out of the air set her on the ground. "Gotcha, Clem!" He laughed. "You knew I was on top of the cart, daddy!" Clementine complained. Alex lifted the young liguar. "Hehe, so, you hungry?" He asked. Clementine bounced on his shoulders. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" She giggled. Alex laughed as he brought her inside.

Clementine was wearing her, "I'm a big sister!" shirt that she got as a surprise gift from Gia. She looked and acted a lot like Alex, but had some Gia in her. She had Alex's blue eyes, his golden brown fur, and his adventurous attitude. But she also had Gia's flowery spots, her heart shaped paws, and her laugh. "What does Mr. Melman said?" She asked. Alex rolled his eyes. "What _did_ Mr. Melman _say_, Clem. Remember your grammar." He said. When he said the words did and say, he tickled her neck, causing her to almost fall off his shoulders. Clementine was extremely intelligent for a 5 year old, but sometimes she would make little mistakes. "Anyway, Melman gave us a little surprise." Alex said as he handed her a piece of fish. Clem's blue eyes widened as she swallowed the fish with large satisfaction. "What?" She asked. Alex set her down. "That your mom isn't going to have one new addition to the family. We've got twins!" He said. Clementine jumped with joy. "Woah! Twins! This will gonna be great!" She giggled. Alex poked her. "This _is_ gonna be great." He corrected her. Then he held up his paws and wiggled his fingers. Clem gasped. "No! No!" She backed away, which turned to running outside before she was scooped off the ground and tickled furiously. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DADDY STOP IT! STOP!" She laughed.

Alex and Clementine came back inside later. Gia was making a pink necklace for Clementine that looked just like hers. "What were you rascals doing out there?" She joked. Clem giggled. "We played hide and seek and then we played tickle-saurus!" She said. Gia gave Alex a look. "Oh. _That_ game." She smirked.

That's when Gia dropped the necklace for Clem. "Alex..." She looked at him. Alex's eyes widened. "It's time isn't it?" He asked. Gia nodded. Alex ran to her side. "Clem, get Melman. Now!" He yelled. Clementine was terrified, but she ran to Melman's cart. "Mr. Melman! Mommy needs help!" She said. Alex was already carrying Gia into Melman's cart. When Gia was laid on the bed, Alex told Clementine to leave them alone and to find Marty. Clem did as she was told.

"Uncle Marty!" Clem ran up to Marty. Marty smiled. "Hey, kiddo!" He said. "What's up?" His smile faded when he saw Clementine's worried face. "Woah, kid. What's wrong?" He asked, concerned. Then he heard Gia yelling, and his eyes widened. "Hoo, boy." He exclaimed. Clem pawed at him. "What's wrong with her?" She asked. "I think you're 'bout to meet your little brothers." He smiled. Clementine gasped softly. "No way!" She beamed. Marty nodded. "Way, kiddo! Way!" He laughed.

Alex later left the cart and Clem went running up to him. "Is mommy ok?" She asked. Alex stroked her head. "Mommy's fine." He said. "You want to help me name your brothers?" Clem jumped with joy. "Do I!" She giggled. Marty gave Alex a look while Clementine ran to see her brothers. "I still can't believe it." He said. Alex sighed. "What now?" He smirked. "I'm older than you, and you have a wife and kids, and I don't even have a girlfriend yet!" Marty ranted. Alex just rolled his eyes.

"What are you gonna name them?" Clementine asked. "I'm not gonna name them, sweetie." Said Gia. "Your dad is. We agreed that if we had any more kids, he'd name them since I named you." Alex walked in. "You didn't name them yet, did you?" He asked. Gia shook her head. "No I didn't." She said. Alex chuckled. He pointed at golden furred (like Gia's) lion with tiny mane. "Let's call you... Leroy. " He decided. Then he looked at the golden brown furred (like Alex's) jaguar. "And you can be... Hunter." He said. Gia smiled. "I like those names." She said. Alex shrugged. "Yeah. I'm a genius." Clementine walked up to her brothers. "Hi Leroy. Hi Hunter. I'm your big sister Clementine." She said sweetly. Alex and Gia smiled. Three kids. This was gonna be fun. At least that's what they thought until they realized what trouble makers Leroy and Hunter turned out to be.


	2. Kids are Difficult (sometimes)

**It's been a few years of mischief and fun. Clementine is 12, and the twins are 7. Also, Lance is in this story and he hasn't aged at all but I wouldn't question it. You didn't question Vitaly when he eliminated the laws of physics, did you?**

"HUNTER!" Alex grabbed Hunter and yanked him right back into the train cart. "What were you doing?! You could've gotten yourself killed!" He yelled. Hunter had tried to climb onto the roof of the train. While it was moving. "Sorry daddy." Hunter said innocently. "No! I'm not taking sorry again! Now wheres your brother?" Alex asked. Hunter pointed at the ceiling. Alex left the cart. "You. Stay." He told Hunter.

"Gia I need you to look after Hunter." Alex said. "Why? What's wrong?" Gia asked. Alex opened the cart door. "I gotta fetch Leroy." He said and he climbed onto the train. Sure enough, Leroy was on top pretending he was flying. "Leroy!" Alex called. Leroy turned around and froze. He was expecting Hunter, not his dad. He was screwed. "Leroy, you come over here right now or I'm...gonna ground you more than I was originally gonna ground you!" Alex yelled. Leroy was at the point of no return. Either he goes to his dad and gets in trouble, or he ignores him and get in more trouble. Of course, he had to choose the first one, and he made his way to Alex.

Alex carefully took Leroy back into the cart with Hunter and Gia. With all four of them there, that meant they were about to have another talk. Normally, Clementine would get all nosy and eavesdrop, but she's gotten used to her troublesome twins, and doesn't find their talks so interesting anymore. "How many times do I have to tell you that when mommy and daddy say not to do something, YOU DON'T DO IT!?" Alex snapped. Leroy and Hunter's ears lowered in unison. "That's right. I've said it so many times you can't even count it." Alex said, crossing his arms. The twins hoped that their mom would tell their dad to not be so hard on them, but she had the same disappointed look an her face as Alex's. Alex continued his lecture. "I mean, are you trying to kill yourselves? Do you want your mother and I to be mad at you? I hope not!" Alex said.

Clementine heard their conversation and rolled her eyes. "Hi." Someone said. Clem looked over and saw a young tiger with friendly, grey eyes. "Oh. Hey there, Lance." She said. "Is Alex lecturing again?" He asked. Clem shrugged. "I think this little talk is a daily basis. I mean, how hard is it to do what you're told?" She asked. "It isn't." Lance said. Both of the cubs flinched when Marty was shot out of a cannon. "So, have you found an act to do yet?" Lance asked. Clementine shook her head. "No. I can't swing like dad, I can't control myself in the air like Marty, I can't balance like Mr. Melman and Ms. Gloria, I can't ride a motorcycle like Julian, I can't jump through a hoop while breaking the laws of physics like Vitaly, I guess I'm just talentless." Clem sighed as she plopped onto the grass. Lance sat beside her. "C'mon, there's got to be something you're good at." Lance encouraged her.

Everyone was going back in the train to get to bed, but Clementine and Lance stayed and talked. They were really good friends. Clem always was able to be herself around Lance (apart from Alex). They didn't like like each other. They were just friends. Clementine yawned. "It's late. I'm going to head to bed. See you in the morning, Lance." She said. "See you." Lance said.

Hunter and Leroy were obviously grounded. They had to clean up after every performance until it was spotless. For 2 weeks. Clementine was still searching for her talent. When she couldn't find anything, she went to her cart and read her book. Leroy and Hunter came in exhausted after she read 2 pages. Clem looked up from her book. "I heard there's gonna be confetti tomorrow." She said, smirking. Hunter flopped on his bed and Leroy slowly made his way to his top bunk. They both groaned loudly. Clem chuckled as she played with her pink necklace Gia made for her when she was 5. Then she went back to her book.

_That night, Despereaux rolled the thread from the thread master's lair, along innumerable hallways and down three flights of stairs. Reader, allow me to put this in perspective for you: Your average house mouse weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of four ounces. Despereaux, as you know, was in no way average. In fact, he-_

"I get we did something wrong but really? Clean up after every performance?" Hunter interrupted. "Do you mind? I'm trying to read." Clementine said. "You're always reading, Clem." Leroy said. Hunter laughed. "Yeah. You might as well have created Facebook." Clem rolled her eyes. "Why did mom and dad make me have to share a cart with you two?" She asked. Both cubs shrugged. "We don't know." Leroy said. Hunter nodded in agreement. Clem sighed as she stuck her nose back in her book.

_Meanwhile..._

"What have you been showing them, Alex?" Gia asked again. "Nothing! I didn't show them anything!" Alex told her. Gia thought Alex had shown the twins something that caused them to want to go on top of the train the day before. "You didn't tell them about that time you climbed on top of the train? Or when you took a bullet to the leg? Or when you took me out on a date on that mountain and I fell off and you jumped for me?" Gia asked. "No, no, and NO! Ok, they're young and they still can't tell right from wrong!" Alex said making gestures with his hands to prove his point. "Alex, c'mon! We need to get them to understand that what they're doing is wrong!" Gia said. Alex ran his paws through his mane in stress. "I try, G! They just won't listen!" He said. Gia sighed. "We can talk about it tomorrow." She said. Alex rubbed her shoulder. "Well, they are our kids. Of course they're gonna be mischievous." He chuckled. Gia chuckled too.

_Later..._

"Now you sure you wanna do this?" Marty asked. Clementine nodded as she put on the helmet. "Yeah!" She said confidently. Marty hesitated. "Al never said you could do this." He stated. "He said it was ok for me to hang out with you, I think that's enough." Clem said. Marty looked behind him. Alex and Gia weren't watching. "All right, get in there, kid!" Marty said. Clem hopped into the TNT filled cannon with ease. Skipper lit the match. "Fire in the hole!" He said. Suddenly, Clem had a feeling of doubt. "Wait!" She called, but was already shot in the air screaming. Or was it laughing? Laugh screaming? Scraughing?... She made a noise. Clementine flew through the air like a bullet until she slammed into a tree. She hung onto a branch of tall tree. It was a small branch. The branch broke and she fell to the ground.

"Luckily, she has no severe injuries. Just some bruises and a few cuts. But apart from that, she's fine." Melman said. Gia sighed with relief as she stroked her daughter's aching head. That night, Clementine couldn't sleep. Gia came in her cart with a flashlight. "It's late sweetie," she said. "You should get to sleep." Clem lowered her head. "Mom? Do you think I'm talentless?" She asked hopelessly. Gia sat on her bed. "Of course not, Clem." She smiled. "Then why can't I do anything?" Clem asked. "All I can do is read! You get to go on trapeze! Marty gets to be shot out of a cannon! I...I'm useless." She said. Gia embraced her. "You're not and never will be useless, Clementine. You'll find your talent eventually." She said.

"Mom? Do you remember that lullaby your parents sang to you?" Clementine asked. Gia nodded. "I would sing it to you when you were very little." She said. "Can you sing it to me?" Clem asked. "Just this once?" Gia nodded as she tucked Clem in. Then, softly, she sang the song.

_Lay your head, close your eyes,_

_And dream a sweet dream._

_When you wake, the sun will rise,_

_Loving you._

_Here is where peace lies,_

_Here is where you're safe,_

_And when you sleep, I'll stand by you,_

_Until the nights through._

Clem yawned as Gia began the second verse.

_Feel the warmth, of the bed,_

_As it embraces you._

_Feel the touch of my paw,_

_And smile._

_For I shall love you,_

_For all eternity,_

_My love won't fade,_

_And nor shall yours,_

_So sleep well, my dear._

Clem's eyes had already fluttered shut. Gia smiled. "Sleep well." She whispered as she kissed Clementine's forehead.


End file.
